With thousands of bands packed into a mile radius in downtown Austin, South by Southwest is a living monument to absurdity and excess. And it would be hard to find an example more illustrative of either than a Snoop Dogg press junket at two in the morning, right after he performed inside a 56-foot-tall Doritos vending machine. The Austin skyline has never looked nacho-cheesier!
Pouring himself red wine and smoking a hand-rolled cigarette, possibly of the jazz variety, the Doggfather zig-zagged (weed reference!) from college b-ball to Nirvana to Hill Country’s favorite son, Willie Nelson. (For those wondering, Snoop’s favorite flavor of Doritos is no longer available; after all he’s done for you, will someone at Frito-Lay please bring back sour cream n’ onion for this man?)
A few highlights:
• Snoop knew his surroundings and donned a University of Texas Longhorns jersey for his post-show interviews. He was pretty bummed his hometown team Long Beach State had just lost, but threw his weight behind Virginia Commonwealth as his sleeper team in the NCAA tournament (they lost a couple days later). “I think they’ve got a shot with that little bald coach they got there,” he said about VCU.
• Snoop and Nirvana were bros in the early ’90s as they both “blew up real big together” at the same time. Snoop lit up (no weed reference) mentioning Kurt. “I’ll say this about the man, the myth, the legend: His music was awesome… but his medicine was 20 times better.”
• Snoop and Willie Nelson are really good friends, and Snoop is probably his biggest fan. “I’m just honored Willie Nelson knows who the fuck I am! On some real shit, Willie Nelson fuckin’ knows me!”
• He and Willie were in Amsterdam together on 4/20/2008. According to Snoop, the two were playing shows on back-to-back nights, and after Snoop’s show the first night their entourages decided to go pick up some Kentucky Fried Chicken. Then Willie and Snoop reached in for the same piece. “We grab the piece and I’m just like, you know that’s Willie motherfuckin’ Nelson, so I let him have it and took the next one,” he said. “I just had my hand in the same box of chicken as Willie motherfuckin’ Nelson!” (Who, it should be noted, hosted a big event during SXSW at his ranch.)
• Willie’s also quite the dominos player, beating Snoop three times that very same night. However, Snoop had other reasons for why he lost. “Man, he had a vaporizer, he had a joint, and I had a blunt. Willie’s just rollin’ around everywhere so that’s why I think I lost. Whatever he passed me, I would smoke it. I’m just chillin’ with Willie motherfuckin’ ‘On the Road Again’ Nelson. I was just like one of my groupies, man — if I gave someone a bag of cowshit they’d smoke it. You know.”
